Wondering how to remove Facebook reviews? After reading this guide, you’ll know how to respond to, remove, and disable Facebook reviews and recommendations.
There’s no question: Facebook is a giant. You wouldn’t be reading this guide if you didn’t know that there are millions – 900 million unique visitors, to be precise – who scan and scroll the platform every day. It’s not just for entertainment anymore. Consumers actively use Facebook to make purchasing decisions.
Want to know how we came to that conclusion? Let’s look at the facts:
- 2 in 3 Facebook users visit local business’ Pages at least once per week
- 1 in 3 Facebook users actively seek out recommendations or reviews on Facebook
So, you get it. Your business’ Facebook page is important. And, if you’ve been receiving a lot of negative feedback on it – whether that’s from fake reviews or poor customer service tactics you’re hoping to turn around – you will learn all about how to remove Facebook reviews and more in this guide
Here are the steps you need to take in order to remove Facebook reviews:
Step 1) Discover whether the review or recommendation violates Facebook’s Community Standards
Step 2) Learn how to remove Facebook reviews or recommendations
Step 3) Learn how to disable Facebook reviews or recommendations
Step 4) Do what you can to turn the bad review into a positive review
Step 5) Run damage control by responding
Step 6) Increase your rating with more positive Facebook reviews and recommendations
Step 1) Discover whether the review or recommendation violates Facebook’s Community Standards
As a Facebook user, especially as the individual who runs a Facebook business page, you don’t have the power to delete a Facebook review or recommendation. Only Facebook can do that. In order for them to take action, a review or recommendation must fall under one of these categories according to Facebook’s Community Standards:
- Recommendation or Review Not Relevant. If the review left does not mention an experience with your business, you can report it as an irrelevant review or recommendation.
- Unfair Recommendation. The wording here is tricky, but Facebook means this to be used for any reviews or recommendations that you – or someone else – suspects were paid for.
- Harassment. If you’re dealing with a disgruntled employee or a dissatisfied customer who won’t leave you alone, it’s time to use this one.
- Spam. Anything computer-generated or unintelligible could be considered spam.
- Violence, Nudity, Hate Speech, Drugs, Suicide or Self-Injury. Facebook has strict rules regarding “objectionable content.” If you encounter reviews with anything related to these topics, report them immediately.
Step 2) Learn how to remove Facebook reviews or recommendations
If you received a review that falls under any of the above categories, it’s likely eligible for removal. Here’s how to remove Facebook reviews or recommendations from your business’ page:
1. Login to your Facebook’s business page.
2. On your page, select the “Reviews” or “Recommendations” tab on the left-hand side:
3. Scroll down to the review you want to report.
4. Locate the exclamation point icon on the right-hand side of the review and click on it:
5. Select the reason you’d like to delete the review or recommendation from the pop-up:
6. Click “Send.”
Step 3) Learn how to disable Facebook reviews or recommendations
If you’re experiencing harassment, a string of fake reviews, or don’t have time to monitor and respond to your Facebook reviews and recommendations, we get it. While we don’t usually recommend it, sometimes there’s a good reason to disable Facebook reviews. Here’s how you can disable reviews and recommendations on your business’ Facebook page:
1. Login to your Facebook business page.
2. Click “Settings” on the upper, right-hand corner of your page:
3. Locate “Templates and Tabs” on the left-hand sidebar:
4. Scroll down until you find “Reviews” or “Recommendations,” then click “Settings” beside it:
5. Beside “Show Reviews,” select “Off.”
Step 4) Do what you can to turn the bad Facebook review into a positive one
If the Facebook review you want to remove does not violate Facebook’s Community Standards, the next best thing you can do is improve the customer’s experience. Here are a few best practices you can follow for turning a bad Facebook review into a positive one:
Respond Quickly
A fast, sincere response to an unhappy customer is key. The longer you wait to respond, the more unhappy your customer will be. Responding fast tells the customer you care and want to listen.
A review monitoring tool can alert you when you have new reviews so you’ll never miss a bad one again.
Personally Contact the Unhappy Customer
When a Facebook user leaves a review or recommendation, you’re given the option to personally contact the reviewer by sending them a private message.
When you do reach out, begin with an apology. The majority of unhappy customers just want their voices to be heard and their thoughts listened to. Ask questions about their experience in order to better understand it and how you can make it right. Offer a discount, a refund, or something else to repair the broken trust.
The best thing about Facebook reviews and recommendations is that once you contact the reviewer privately, Facebook will make a note of it on that person’s review. Then, other potential customers will know you’re handling the situation, even if they don’t know exactly what you’re saying.
If the customer is pleased with how you’ve handled things, politely ask if they’d be willing to update their review. Do not push – that can only make things worse.
Provide Instructions for Updating the Facebook Review
Make it as easy as possible for your customer to update their Facebook review by providing simple instructions for how to do it. Facebook can be chaotic and cluttered, especially when it comes to the reviews. There’s no direct link to send your customer to like there is with Google or Yelp.
Go ahead and send the following instructions to your customer:
Thank you so much for agreeing to update your Facebook review. I am thrilled we could improve your experience with our business and I appreciate your willingness to do this!
You can update your review by following these steps:
- Head to the reviews section of our business page: [INSERT REVIEW PAGE LINK]
- Click the three dots beside your review, which should appear at the top of the page.
- Select “Edit Review.”
- Add any new feedback you’d like to share.
Step 5) Run damage control by responding
There are some customers you just won’t be able to appease. It’s unfortunate, but that’s part of life and running a business. If you’re unable to improve a relationship between you and your customer, it’s time to publicly respond to the negative Facebook review or recommendation. This step is important because hundreds – perhaps even thousands – of potential customers will see this review in the future. You want them to know you care about every customer experience.
How to respond to a negative Facebook review or recommendation
Here are a few best practices to follow when responding to negative Facebook reviews or recommendations:
- Thank the customer for their honest feedback. After all, they’ve handed you an opportunity to better your business. Be sure to thank them!
- Apologize to the customer. Even if you’ve done this in the private message, it’s important to apologize publicly so others see you’re willing to admit when you’re wrong.
- Make an offer. Is there something you can do to repair the relationship between you and your customer? Try to make things right by offering something.
- Take it offline. We cannot stress how important this is with Facebook reviews. Unlike Google or Yelp, Facebook reviews behave like posts, so you could end up arguing with a dissatisfied customer in the comments. Avoid this by including a phone number or email address they can contact to claim the offer you made.
Why you should respond to a positive Facebook review or recommendation
While we’re on the subject of responding, we’d like to point out that it’s just as important for you to respond to positive Facebook reviews as it is to respond to negative ones.
Positive reviews are from your biggest fans. Make your happiest customers even happier by commenting a short, sweet, personalized note, thanking them for their business.
Step 6) Increase your rating with more positive Facebook reviews and recommendations
While you may or may not have been able to delete a bad review today, the best way to protect your business from bad reviews is by receiving lots of outstanding reviews from satisfied customers. The more positive reviews you get, the less credibility the negative reviews will have.
Here are some best practices to help you get more positive Facebook reviews or recommendations:
- Pre-screen your customers. You only want to invite your most satisfied customers to rate you publicly. Any negative feedback should be directed internally so you can make changes as necessary.
- Follow-up with customers. Sometimes, customers receive an initial request to write a review and just forget. Follow-up with the ones who did not take action, and you can easily double the amount of feedback you receive.
- Frequently send review requests. Send review requests on a regular basis – at least weekly, if not daily – when your customer’s experiences are still fresh.
- Automate the process so you aren’t spending all of your time and effort reaching out to customers for feedback.
- Check out our Facebook review tool which makes it simple and easy to lots of positive Facebook reviews and recommendations by following all of the above best practices.
These are just the basics. Get even more in-depth information by learning how to get Facebook reviews.
